Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----that is, the addition of these primary health care centres which just happen to be in the Minister's constituency.

The Taoiseach stated that the issue of need was not the only criterion and said there were others. He mentioned competition and GP co-operation. Was the Minister of State, Deputy Shortall, aware of those additional criteria, and did she accept them, or is it the case, as she stated in her contribution in the Dáil, that there was - to use the euphemism - a lack of transparency in the decision-making around this?

This has been another stroke in the Government's stroke politics. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Varadkar, at least got that right. How can the Taoiseach, the head of the reforming Government, stand over this? Surely, a Taoiseach who is so critical of Fianna Fáil and the Administration that went before this one, should ensure that he calls time where strokes are pulled by senior Ministers. The Taoiseach should tell us about the criteria. Did the Minister of State, Deputy Shortall, know about them? Does she know about them now? Is she now prepared to row back on her criticism of the lack of transparency on this issue?

See this speech in context